About the Role
Charles River Development (CRD) is the FinTech division of State Street. Our technology forms part of the State Street Alpha Platform, supporting investment managers around the world. Our engineering organization is undertaking a major modernization of the Wealth Management platform, evolving a large, business-critical software estate toward a modern architecture and engineering model using technologies including Java, Azure, Kafka, Kubernetes and Snowflake. And we're doing it while the business continues to run.
The Challenge
This is a colossal engineering challenge. We are modernizing a mature financial platform that our clients depend on every day. That means evolving architecture, introducing modern technologies and engineering practices, and reducing years of accumulated complexity without stopping the business. There is legacy technology. There are dependencies between systems and teams. And yes, we are a large corporation, with the processes, controls and organizational complexity that come with operating technology in a highly regulated industry. We are realistic about that. But we don't accept the status quo simply because "that's how things work in a large organization." We want to simplify, automate and improve what we can, making engineering more effective and more enjoyable along the way.
For experienced engineers and leaders, this is an opportunity to learn something beyond another technology stack: how large-scale modernization actually works in the real world, where architecture, technology, business, risk and people all meet.
As a Java Developer & Team Lead, you will combine hands-on engineering with technical and people leadership. You will lead a team contributing to the Wealth Management modernization while remaining close to architecture, design and implementation.
Responsibilities
•Lead a team of engineers from both a technical and people-management perspective
•Design and deliver complex software changes using Java, Spring, Kafka, APIs and relational databases
•Help evolve the platform toward a more modular, cloud-oriented architecture
•Make pragmatic engineering decisions balancing modernization with the realities of a business-critical production system
•Improve testing, CI/CD, observability, automation, reliability and developer experience
•Coordinate technical work and dependencies across teams
•Mentor engineers and support their technical and professional growth
•Challenge unnecessary complexity and continuously improve how engineering gets done
•Most importantly, take ownership and help move difficult problems forward
Requirements
•7+ years of professional Java development experience
•2+ years leading engineering teams, including people-management responsibilities
•Strong knowledge of Java, Spring, SQL and distributed systems
•Experience with Kafka, APIs and microservices
•Experience leading teams of approximately 6–10 engineers
•Strong software design and problem-solving skills
•Ability to work effectively with complex existing systems, not only greenfield development
•Strong technical judgment and willingness to constructively challenge existing approaches
•Ambition, capability and persistence — modernization involves ambiguity, dependencies and setbacks, and we need people who keep things moving
•Familiarity with Azure, Kubernetes, Snowflake, React, CI/CD, observability, financial services and Wealth Management large-scale platform modernization is a plus — you don't need to know everything on this list; we care more about your ability to learn, reason about complex systems and make sound engineering decisions
Who Will Enjoy This Role
You probably will if you enjoy difficult engineering problems with real-world constraints, want to influence architecture rather than simply implement tickets, and are willing to challenge the status quo constructively. This isn't a perfectly prepared greenfield environment. We're looking for people who want to help create the engineering environment we want to work in.
Compensation & Benefits
•zł182,004 Annual (minimum salary for the role in the primary location specified; may differ if the candidate works outside this primary location; final salary determined by position, type of work, individual skills, job description, working hours, diligence, initiative, self-management, length of employment, availability, and quantity/quality of work delivered)
•Eligible for discretionary annual performance-based awards
•Permanent contract from day one
•Additional holidays (Birthday Day Off, 3rd and 5th year anniversary Day Off)
•Gold Medical Package for employees and their families (partner and children)
•Premium life insurance package and private pension plan
•Wide range of soft skills training, technical workshops, language classes and development programs
•Opportunities to volunteer time to company-driven initiatives, employee networks or organizations of choice
•Variety of well-being programs
•Additional benefits available depending on the seniority of the role
